Knitting & Crocheting a Community

I was happy to find out that there is a small group of people here in Lethbridge that get together once a month "for laughs, friendship, good conversation about social justice, perhaps good food and drink, and of course - knitting! Whether a novice or expert, all are invited to participate!"

And, their group is called Knitting a Revolution!  I admit, I haven't actually gone yet, but did participate in one of their projects:

"As you may or may not have heard, this past Saturday a young gay man in Lethbridge was the victim of a hate crime. His garage was broken into and his vehicle was spray-painted with several anti-queer slurs. In response, the Lethbridge community as a whole is coming together to protest actions of hate. Several organizations are coming together to hold an Anti-Hate Rally on Thursday, June 24 from 6pm-7pm at City Hall.

As this is during the Lethbridge Knitting a Revolution's monthly knitting circle time, I was wondering if we would be interested in being a group at the rally....perhaps knitting against hate or something? I think that having people knit is symbolic of anti-violent gatherings but we could do more than that."

So a few friends and I got together in my living room and whipped up a few squares over some wine.  The squares along with some foam heart cut-outs that people could write on were installed on the trees outside city hall:

Thanks to Arron for the pics!  Someone commented that once installed, the flags reminded them of Tibetan Prayer Flags.  These colorful flags, printed with prayers, are often hung in the windy hills of the himilayas and as they are blown in the wind, it is thought that the prayers are 'read' by the wind.  Lethbridge can be a pretty windy place, so I liked the comparison :)

Anyway, lots of folks turned out for the rally- and as it was said, this incident has caused more good than harm, as a community banded together to show support & love.

On Handwork

A friend sent me this video, and now I want to show it to everyone!
Renate Hiller is able to articulate what it is about hand-work that is so meaningful in today's fast paced culture.



It's extra special for me, as we've got twin spinning wheels- right down to the stain!  Also if you look closely, you'll notice she's a continental knitter too!!

New in the shop: Recycled Rainbow Sampler packs

I just listed the new Recycled Rainbow Sampler Pack in the shop. This has been an idea I've had for some time now and I'm so happy to have made it a reality!

These little packs have four mini-skeins of recycled, hand-dyed yarn.  Each skein is approx 20 yards in total, giving you about 80 yards to work with.  They are 100% wool and come from upcycled, cleaned, second hand yarn. You can combine them to make a groovy striped project such as a hat, or use them individually to edge a project, add them into a larger project, or use them in weaving projects to add bold color & texture, or perhaps as an embellishment in a contemporary fiber art composition.

 I have about 6 of these kits available, get yours while they last!
And don't forget, I am always open to requests for custom dyed yarns!

Changing Directions...

Since my life seems to be taking a new direction lately, I feel like I've had some time to reflect on my own work; and the direction I want to take it.   Lately it is dyeing that I seem to enjoy most.  Whether it is wool roving, handspun yarn, upcycled sweater yarn, new yarns, or thrifted yarns.  Maybe I'm returning to my love of batik, and the aspect of dyeing I loved in that art form.

Also, recovering and recycling is something I have become more interested in too.  I love taking something boring, un-used, or plain (but still salvageable) and adding color and life.  I've been fortunate enough to have found lots of second hand white wool lately for dyeing:

recycled, hand-dyed yarn

And I think this change is good, if you do the same thing over and over again, it usually gets boring.  Not that crochet or knitting has gotten boring for me.  But at this point, I'd rather be dyeing or spinning.  And if I am crocheting or knitting, I'd rather be doing it for someone connected to me.  Who knows if I'll feel this way forever, but for the time being, I'm going to be doing more fiber & dye-related work.  And for me right now, I love providing folks with the materials (yarn) to make beautiful things.  It's pretty great.

So I've got a few things on sale in the shop, well, actually quite a few things, for really cheap.  I'm hoping there's a few people out there who may have noticed something in my shop before, but maybe didn't have the cash to buy it then.  It's time for me to clear out and make room for new things.  Come have a peek if you feel inclined!

And watch for more fibery goodness soon!  And maybe there will be bits and bites of knitted or crocheted goodness in the future too- I'm going to leave it open for when the moment strikes me!

Smokin' Clothing

I think I freak people out when I talk about spinning various fibers into yarn and the possibilities.  I guess maybe folks don't recognize that wool yarn is, simply put, twisted sheep's fur.  And therefore, you could potentially make yarn out of many other types of fibers, such as cottonwood fuzz, alpaca fleece, angora bunny fur, strands of plant fiber such as hemp, dog fur, dandelion fluff, dryer lint, and apparently now cigarette butts!!

A friend shared this link with me on a project that Alexandra Guerrero is doing with re-purposing a very common piece of garbage into something functional.  It sounds disgusting, but after you read about the intensive sterilization & cleaning process, its kind of neat.  Cigarette butts litter our streets and take a really long time to break down.  I wonder what exactly are the fibers in cigarette filters/butts?  fiberglass maybe?

And she makes really cute crocheted accessories with the yarn too!

Read all about it at treehugger and see more pics of finished projects here.

oh, and hey, don't forget to enter my giveaway and the sale happening in my shop right now; 15% off!!

1 (among many) Idea for Creative Reuse

It finally happened! The book came out- the first craft related book I've been in!
My day was made on Tuesday when the article on etsy came out about the book (read it here).  I got the book for the holidays it was so satisfying to see one my projects in there- I was so excited I couldn't find Aaron, so as I was looking for him in the bookstore, I couldn't hold it in so I told the people working there- and then they gave me a discount!

There's little me with my hobo bag!

Apparently Garth, the fella who put the book together wanted it to be sort of a guessing game, so he didn't put what everything was made out of with the pictures.  So you flip to the back and you find out!

The bag that was in the book sold long ago so I decided to make up a new custom listing, since I only have a tiny bit of that yarn left (most of it has went into these).  So, practice what I preach, I went to goodwill and found a bunch more wool sweaters to start unravelling:

Sometimes I find it a bit difficult finding sweaters to unravel- it seems to be the time where I can find ones that I would actually wear!  Had the yellow one been a different color, I probably would have kept it.  I did also bring home a nice blue one that Aaron decided to keep.
I'm waiting next for my ball winder to arrive, my little holiday/birthday present to myself! 
In the meantime, yay for creative reuse!  Check out the book for some fabulous ideas & inspiration!

1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse

A few weeks ago, I had a lovely surprise- one of my projects is going to be featured in the book 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse!  I had submitted something what seems like ages ago, and I completely forgot about the book until I received an email from Garth, the guy behind the book.  Apparently it will be released on Nov 1 in the states, I am not sure about Canada yet.

The project I submitted was this Earthy Hobo Bag with upcycled yarn, which has since sold (I kind of wish I hadn't sold it!)

Yay!

Yarn Bombs of Love

Last weekend I stumbled upon a great book- Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti by By Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain.  The book is beautifully put together and offers a history of yarn graffiti, as well as how to start your own projects, and patterns for knit graffiti.  I didn't realise how much of a movement was going on with yarn bombing, especially here in Canada.  I've been thinking about trying it for a long time and this book may have just given me that extra inspiration (along with great tutorials) to try it sometime.  Edmonton gets so cold & gray in the winter, I think some urban & natural landmarks/features could use a little cozying up.

The book is published by Arsenal Pulp Press, the same folks who put out Sarah Kramer's Vegan cookbook series, of which I have La Dolce Vegan.  I'm not vegan- I'm vegetarian... but I always try and incorporate vegan recipes into my meals, and I just love it when it happens "by mistake" ie, i didn't even plan it.

Anyhoo, if you get a chance, check these books out they are both rad.

And, the blog is still a work in progress- if you have any comments, please feel free to email me... Is the font too small?  Does something hurt your eyes?  Viewing things on the web seems to change from screen to screen.

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who are celebrating!  Perhaps some of us will be indulging in some homegrown beets, the inspiration for my latest yarn:

No Good Yarn Shall be left Behind!

Lately I've been addicted to Ravelry.  It's a "place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration" and most of the content is user-driven.  Recently I stumbled upon the Handknit Liberation Front.  I chuckled as I read their group description:

Do you ever find yourself distraught at a charity shop, thrift store, or yard sale, because you find some gorgeous piece of handknitting (or extremely good quality-machine knitting), but you have to pass it by because it’s not your size or color?
Are you disgusted by the unknown people who would relegate a perfectly wonderful piece of knitwork to a secondhand store, just because it has a few stains, which they lacked the ingenuity to either remove or cover up by dying?
Do you wail and gnash your teeth at a sweater kicked to the curb, simply because it has an unremovable stain, or holes due to vermin or burns, when there are so many meters of reusable yarn in a fabulous fiber that could be frogged and recycled, if only someone took the time and effort?
We are the Handknit Liberation Front (HaLF for short), and we believe that every piece of quality knitwear deserves a good home!
We will scour the secondhand stores, thrift/charity shops, and yard/garage sales of the world for the downtrodden, the cast off, and the forgotten, and we will elevate them and give them new life!
We will remove quality knitwear from the apathetic and ignorant (please note we do not advocate sweater-theft), and put it into the hands of people who truly understand it, and know how many hours of someone’s life that sweater represents!
We will wash and block used garments, so they look like new! We will identify mystery fibers! When we cannot clean, we will dye! When we cannot dye, we will frog! When we cannot frog, we will felt! No good yarn shall be left behind!
We will swap, both whole garments and recycled yarn! When we cannot swap, we will sell! When we cannot sell, we will give away! No good yarn shall be left behind!
We are the Handknit Liberation Front! This is our manifesto! Join us, and make it a better world for knitwear and fiber-freaks alike! (Crocheted garments and crocheters are naturally welcome as well.)

This is our motto: NO GOOD YARN SHALL BE LEFT BEHIND!

These sentiments definitely resonate with me; I do feel a little bit of sadness when I see a handmade blanket in the thrift store, no matter how ugly.
I've been making most of my fingerless gloves for the shop lately with upcycled yarns, here are just a couple recent ones:

The first ones (going clockwise) were made with a frogged (unraveled) Nepalese wool sweater, the 2nd ones were made with some thrifted vintage yarns, the 3rd ones were made with thrifted, hand dyed yarn, the 4th ones (cream colored) were made with a felted, upcycled sweater, and the last ones, I just finished, were made with thrifted yarns and then embellished and needle felted with my own handspun, hand dyed orange yarn.

no good yarn shall be left behind!

T.G.I.F.F.!!

Yay! Thank goodness its (fiber) friday.  What a wonderful week it's been; my grandma's 80th birthday, my 80th shop sale, beautifulllll weather (we hit a record of +31C here the other day!), lots of wonderful garden food, getting lovely etsy things in the mail, and new ideas (including brainstorming for a collaborative, fibery, fun, and performative house installation- oh the possibilities!).  And this weekend, a visit from my mom, who hasn't been for a visit in ages! 

But what I really have missed this week is spinning- I've been up to so many fun other things, that I think tonight I am just going to relax and spin and get things ready for our visit this weekend!!!  Honey will be out and about, and it'll just be me and the cats... oh the cats, have I ever introduced you to my lovely Cohen & Dylan?

That's Cohen, in the back, she was a stray that adopted us :)  Dylan's in the front, and he came from a stray mommy that my friend took in.  They look almost exactly the same, but have very different, distinct personalities... almost opposites!!  And yes, their names correspond with some of our favorite musicians! 

I'm a real animal lover- which is why my heartstrings have been pulled in all sorts of ways lately.  A fellow Alberta Etsy Street Team member, TwoStrayCats, who is also an animal lover, has recently went through a sad time with one of her furry family members, Sammy.  It seems he was struck with quite a force from behind, and now he is suffering from many complications including broken hips. 

Luckily, Sammy is hanging in there, and due in part to the amazing support the Alberta Street Team has offered.  Many sellers are donating part of their profits, providing encouraging words & support, and in general, being awesome.  After hearing about Sammy, I came home and gave extra love to my Cohen & Dylan.  I felt reassured that we choose to keep them as indoor cats; sometimes I feel guilty, but when I hear about things like this, it makes me so sad.  What is it with people who abuse animals?!  But luckily we have community, and each other in hard times like this.  You can visit this thread on etsy to find out how you can help, or what the latest news is on Sammy. 

I'll be thinking about little Sammy, and I hope you will give some extra love to whatever furry critter you have in your life!! 

Happy 80th!

Alright.  I'm having one of those "whoa" moments.  I just put the puzzle pieces together.  Today, I reached 80 sales in my shop.  Today is also my paternal grandma's 80th birthday, AND I just noticed that this is my 85th blog post!!  And, my first front page on etsy was on August 8, 2008 (08/08/08), which was a tea cosy that I named after my great-grandma; Mrs. Peterson's Tea Cosy:

What's with all the 8's??? I sometimes wonder if my great-grandmother is out there cheering me on; it seems a little too coincidental.  I think about her often, even though she passed away when I was quite young.   I think she's a big part of who I am today- through my grandma, I have inherited her sense of thrift, hard work, and strength.  It's something I'm really grateful for, and its so amazing that I get these little reminders periodically- it's so encouraging!

So as I celebrate my success, I also celebrate and honor the great women I have learned from.  

Thanks great-grandma,  and happy 80th birthday grandma!!!

above: just some of the big 80!

Gettin' Down with Upcycling

"Refuse becomes fertilizer. Trash becomes treasure. Creativity IS survival."
-Keith Recker, editor of HAND/EYE, on Africa's eco-craftiness in a recent Storque Article.

This fall, I'm focusing on using more upcycled and thrifted yarns for the production of my items. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. As many of us know, there is a huge emphasis in the handmade movement right now on eco-friendly. Even box stores like Michaels are carrying more 'natural' and 'recycled' fibers these days. That's all fine and dandy, but these commercial yarns are often produced overseas- adding a huge, unecessary carbon footprint to your ball of yarn. Alot of these yarns also cost an arm and a leg; and since labour is cheap in places such as China, I wonder just who is making a profit off these 'eco-friendly' products- and how can they be genuinely 'eco-friendly'? It's a pretty loosey-goosey term that's often used just to make a profit these days. I think people should take it more seriously. Anyone can call anything eco-friendly, it's not as if it has to be certified as organics do.

Anyways, to put a more positive 'spin' on things, this is why I think recycling, upcycling, re-using, repurposing, reclaiming... whatever you want to call it... is a much more eco-friendly option when it comes to hand-making (that is... if you don't spin your own yarn- but I won't get into that now!) It isn't as if there's not enough yarn out there already! Plus it keeps the cost down for the artist & consumer and lowers your carbon footprint!

Below, a picture which was used in an Etsy article recently shows a group of people at the Museum of Arts and Design unravelling sweaters (and having a beer- boy that sounds like a great night to me!)


I have been on the hunt for new sources of preloved, 'eco-yarn' lately, and with the right eye, it's not hard to run into great materials. I'm looking for mostly natural yarns, as these are my favorite to work with, and are the easiest to dye. A few new pairs of fingerless gloves have been created with some recent finds:



Both of these are made from wool, the Hinterland gloves on the left were also embellished via needlefelting- something I have just learned to do, and boy, it's fun! The orange needlefelted yarn is my own handspun & dyed farm wool from our local mill. The Blackberry Patch gloves on the right were made with some crazy bubbly wool yarn that I just love!

On my horizon: a 100% wool gap sweater to unravel & dye, some thrifted dutch yarns, and a new eco-friendly 'gaywool' dye!
Fun times!

Handmade Nation in E-town: July 18

Good News: I just found out that the Handmade Nation film is being screened in Edmonton on July 18th!
Bad News (but sort of good): I'm going to be off somewhere in the mountains on July 18th!

So, I just thought I'd post the info here- I'd definately recommend going to see the film if you are interested in the handmade movement. It is being screened by the Make It craft show, which is happening at the same time at the TransAlta Arts barns.

Thanks to Laura and Tanis in Vancouver for the heads up!

Gandhi: the original craftivist

Photographer Margate Bourke-White's famous picture of Gandhi taken for LIFE Magazine.

I think Gandhi was the original "craftivist"; this word has only come to fruition in the last 5 or 10 years, but the concept has been around for much longer.

Gandhi advocated the boycott of machine made European clothing as it caused large scale unemployment in India. He adopted the daily spinning of yarn and encouraged others to take up spinning because the garment industry, both foreign and domestic, had usurped Indian workers and Indian culture, giving rise to poverty, unemployment and a loss of culture. He took to making hand-made cloth called Khadi that was inexpensive and suitable for poor Indians. It showed people how to be self-reliant.

To Gandhi, the education of the people was closely tied to leading them out of poverty. On his tours throughout the country Gandhi called upon the people to use spinning-wheels at home in order to fabricate cloth themselves. English cloth was to be boycotted. Gandhi himself set an example. He, who in his younger years had worn the clothes of the British, now wore nothing but a dohti (a simple cloth). He spent every free minute at the spinning-wheel, although his wife always claimed that he was born with two left hands.

The spinning-wheel campaign was directed against the importation of English cloth, but it also provided the poorest of the Indians with a source of income. When visiting England, Gandhi met workers from English cloth-making factories. Although they suffered from the campaign, they understood the situation the Indians were in, and the action they were taking. Gandhi raised the spinning-wheel to be the symbol of Indian independence. With this campaign he had succeeded in leading the Indian people on a peaceful path of resistance. The spinning-wheel is still represented on the Indian flag:

Gandhi wrote:

"...the message of the spinning wheel is much wider than its circumference. Its message is one of simplicity, service to [humankind], living so as not to hurt others..."

New Eco Projects

I've been in a creative mood lately- I have felt more like crocheting than anything. Now that my studio is semi-clean, I am able to find things that I forgot I had- including lots of really pretty fabrics. I'm not much of a sewer, so I decided to make fabric yarn. I've experimented with it before, and found it's not real great for apparel items, unless you need something really thick & sturdy. So I thought it would be great for houseware-type items, so I made these eco trivets:

I love having cute kitchen accessories! These trivets/pot holders are perfect for protecting surfaces from hot dishes, pots and pans; great for your next indoor/outdoor picnic, bbq, potluck or tea party. I even thought a few of them displayed together would make unique wall-hangings. Best of all, they are made with upcycled fabrics!

I love seeing how all the colors and patterns condense when I crochet them!

(this teapot & cup set is one of my favorite garage-sale finds!)

Wonderful Eco Etsy

I recently joined the eco etsy team- I'm so glad I did!! They are such a solid team- everyone is so dedicated to being genuinely green; these folks have found some pretty innovative ways to create with an eco consciousness. The team supports each other in promoting green products on etsy, and finding new ways to package our products more environmentally friendly.

If you haven't had a chance to check out the eco etsy blog I would definately suggest you do- there's heaps of eco tutorials such as making your own laundry detergent, recycled envelopes & packaging, yummy recipes, stencilled t-shirts, and all kind of great how-to's to get you inspired to be green! I'm currently arranging to have one of my tutorials posted on recycling yarn- I will post here when it's up.

The blog also does a feature on it's members- it's so neat to have a peek inside each one of these creative minds! Members come from all over the place (but I am so amazed at how many are Canadian- us canucks really seem to have a green streak!)

You can easily locate eco etsy members & their products by doing a search on etsy for "teamecoetsy"- or click the birdie below!

Adieu Alberta April!

Just like spring time in Alberta
Warm sunny days endless skies of blue
Then without a warning
Another winter storm comes raging through
And the mercury's fallin'
I'm left all alone
Just like spring time in Alberta
Chills me to the bone
-Ian Tyson

April 2009 has not been kind to us Albertans- from sunshine and sunburns to freezing rain and snow, we definately are a hardy bunch! Luckily, I've been keeping busy & warm with my new line of knits, spinning up new bundles of fibery goodness, and my good 'ol standby, crochet. Meanwhile, hubby has been keeping busy with seed starting, home-brewing, and digging up a new garden space (there used to be a tree there!):

Every Spring, we celebrate May Day. We have a public march in the streets of Edmonton coming up tommorow, part of the May Week Labour Arts Festival- a celebration of the successes that workers have gained, including the 8 hour workday and more:

May Day is celebrated and recognized as the International Workers’ day, chosen over 100 years ago to commemorate the struggles and gains of workers and the labour movement. Most notable reasons to celebrate are the 8-hour day, Saturday as part of the weekend, improved working conditions and child labor laws. But these gains were not attained without the solidarity of workers. As workers, we must recognize and commemorate May Day not only for its historical significance, but also as a time to organize and speak out around issues that are impacting working-class people today. Through the many artistic disciplines of the festival, May Week provides people with the information, education and inspiration to make positive changes in our local and global communities.

I'm hoping for beautiful sunshine for our march in the streets tommorow!!! Though I'm not too active in the festival this year, in the past I coordinated a sweatshop-free fashion show & art market, as well as submitted one of my drawings to the Workers Art Show:

In this drawing, I wanted to convey the idea that a lot of labour (often the work of women) often goes unrecognized or taken for granted. The image is sourced from a World War II advertisement. If all the unpaid and underpaid workers went on strike for just one day, can you imagine what would happen?

Hope you will find a way to celebrate May Day & Spring; I think I need to go and make myself a sign, perhaps it will be something along these lines (this is one of the cross stitch pieces I did for a feminisms conference). This is for all you moms out there:

Earth Day Preview

pssst... it's Earth Day tommorow! and in honor of that, I'm offering a sale, for all my bloggy friends out there! For tommorow only, you will receive 25% off any non-sale items in my shop if you quote "earth day" in your notes to seller when purchasing! I will send you a revised invoice.

For now, here's a preview of some of the eco-friendly items I carry in my shop:

1.) life is simple reusable felted hobo bag
2.) upcycled yarn- berries-handpainted wool potholder/trivet
3.) sunflower crocheted fingerless eco gloves
4.) Tweedy Roots Legwarmers made with upcycled yarn
5.) Huge Hippie Mushroom Tam made with reclaimed materials

I'm teaming up with the TransCanada Etsy Team on a team promotion, I'll be posting a list of specials on their blog tonight. Tommorow, I will be posting some of my favorite eco-friendly team items and a conscious cleaning tutorial so make sure you check back tommorow! Laura Bucci, creator of eco-friendly cup cozies and linen wallets & pouches has done a post today on the team blog featuring some tempting eco-friendly items from our team members, as well as an upcycling tutorial on how to make your own mailers & envelopes using upcycled boxes, you can check it out here.

Giving a new life to old yarn

I've been known to be sadly browsing the aisles of thrift shops, adoringly shuffling through all the "homeless" handmade sweaters, blankets, toques, gloves, mitts, etc, etc. It breaks my heart to see some of this stuff just thrown in the garbage bag that goes to the sally ann. But on a positive note, sometimes these items find a home with someone who does truly appreciate them. Sure, I can understand why that scratchy, 3-D, sculpture-esque sweater that grama knit you for Christmas is there. And that's why I think it's great that there is a growing movement to re-purpose, upcycle, and re-cycle some of these garments.

When rescuing, say, an old sweater, you have a variety of options. You can unravel it for the yarn, this must only be done after identifying it can be done in one strand. Many commercially-made "knit" sweaters are simply large pieces of knitted fabric that are cut up and sewed/serged together into a garment. This means you will get many shorter pieces of yarn, which is not ideal for creating new garments. Handmade sweaters, and sometimes commercially made ones, are not made in this way. They are made in sections, and then stitched together. This means you can unravel them and usually end up with one long strand (or a 2 or 3) you can wind into a ball. Below is an example of just such. I found a beautiful sweater made in Nepal, but it must have been an XXLarge, because it was so huge. I couldn't pass it up, and at the time, I had no idea what I'd do with it. Just recently (when cleaning my studio), I found it again and decided to unravel it:

There are some things to consider when choosing a sweater to unravel:

- Fiber content/quality- it is not worth your time to unravel an acrylic sweater. Acrylic is not a quality material; I like to look for nice wools (the one above is 100% wool). Sometimes you can hit the jackpot and find something like angora. If you can't easily identify the fiber (ie no tags) be weary.

- Gauge/thickness- Avoid really fine yarns; you will just get discouraged! These can be beautiful, but very difficult and fragile to unravel.

- Dyeing/felting potential- Maybe you have found a nice white sweater that has a stain on it. Not to worry- can you dye it? Just cut out the stained part. If you are looking to dye, avoid anything synthetic. Animal/protein fibers are best for dyeing. Felting: you can also felt the garment if it is 100% wool.

The process: since there are already so many tutorials on how to actually unravel a sweater, I am not going to re-invent the wheel. Click here for an illustrated tutorial.
Here are a couple of examples that I have done using upcycled yarn:

berries. handpainted wool potholder/trivet

This was done with upcycled, white superwash wool that I dyed and crocheted. I got it from a church garage sale (those things can be gold mines for artsy folks!). I tried to felt it and that is how I discovered it was superwash!

Next, here are some pics of the dyeing process I use to create the yarn for my Harvest Fingerless Gloves with Hand-dyed yarn:

After:

And finally, here I took a sweater and unravelled it for this lovely brown tweedy yarn. It didn't need to be dyed, I thought the color was beautiful on it's own. So far I've made this
Upcycled Earthy Hobo Bag:

These Tweedy Roots Legwarmers:And finally, these
Treehugger re-booties/slippers:
I'm so excited to find my next great sweater treasure. And I still haven't decided what to do with the Nepalese wool; will post when I make it into something! Recycling old sweaters, blankets and garments sure is a nifty way to come across some low-cost, unique yarns, and do the planet a favor by re-using instead of consuming something new!

Head's Spinning!

"Someone is waiting just for you

spinning wheel is spinning true
Drop all your troubles, by the river side
Ride a painted pony
Let the spinning wheel fly"
-from Blood, Sweat, and Tears "Spinning Wheel"

That's exactly what I did this past weekend; I had a great "spinning weekend"; you know those moments where you become totally enveloped in what you are doing and creating? The minus 30 temperatures outside also helped :)

I spun some awesome yarn this weekend, yarn that I feel really proud of, especially my Little Rainbows Handspun Local Alpaca Yarn; a luxuriously soft blend of creamy Alpaca (50%) and Romney wool (50%), lovingly handspun on my Ashford Traditional spinning wheel. The fibers are 100% locally sourced (in Alberta, Canada); The alpaca comes from an animal-friendly farm just outside Edmonton, AB, and the romney comes from a local spinning mill in Carstairs, AB. I have plied the yarn with a delicate rainbow thread and was set with a biodegradable yarn soap, which features a subtle touch of grapefruit essential oil.

Little Rainbows Handspun Local Alpaca Yarn from my Etsy Shop

Using locally-sourced products is becoming so important to me, whether its food, gifts, supplies, furniture, or even the mechanic I choose (why go to a big box store with awful service when you can go to a nice local shop with skilled tradespeople?) Shopping local usually provides you with a heartwarming story to accompany your purchase. This yarn was part of a little jaunt a friend and I took out into the country this fall, to a local arts & crafts celebration. We got to go to this alpaca farm and hang out with the animals!!! (which were pretty darn cute, and I had no idea that baby alpacas made a little whimpering noise, just like a human babe!)

Alpacas at a local farm just outside Edmonton, AB

I also had a blast dyeing & painting fiber... at the moment I'm working on some handpainted, 2-ply yarn for the spring (cutesy, cheery colors), as well as a new recycled yarn project... more info to come! My head is still spinning with ideas- I'm totally lovin my new adventure in fiber!